


Spectacles and Spectrespecs

by dark_pookha



Series: Luna Crosses Over [2]
Category: DC Universe, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Secret Identity, Wrackspurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 09:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14353128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark_pookha/pseuds/dark_pookha
Summary: Have you ever wondered why no one sees through the thin disguise of Clark Kent's glasses? Luna Lovegood has discovered why!Crossover Harry Potter/Superman.Part 2 of the series, "Luna Crosses Over."





	Spectacles and Spectrespecs

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Oldershouldknowbetter for beta reading this and giving some invaluable suggestions.

Spectacles and Spectrespecs

 

"Mr. Kent! Mr. Kent!" A bright English-accented voice called from just behind him.

 

He turned and faced her, his hat pulled low to the top rim of his glasses as if the sun were bothering him; but nothing could be further from the truth. He could feel the golden yellow rays of Sol on his face and welcomed the power as it crept into him. He looked closely at the young woman who had called to him.

 

She was probably in her mid to late twenties; short, just barely five foot two and had long, straggly, dirty blonde hair. She was pale, slender and wore lurid purple jeans with a non-matching brick-red paisley shirt. A pair of large pink sunglasses covered most of her face, one lens of which was blue and the other pink. She was looking carefully at him, with an intensity usually reserved for superheroes or supervillains. He scanned her quickly with his X-ray vision and saw a wand tightly gripped in her hand in a pocket.

 

He had dealt with magic before and was wary of wizards and witches, as none of his natural immunities was proof against it. He tensed and she noticed.

 

"Sorry, Mr. Kent, but we need to talk; is there someplace private we could go? I promise you it's of the utmost importance." She had a light, sing-song voice.

 

"I'm sorry, Miss?" He trailed off, making it a question.

 

"Scamander, Luna Scamander, Mrs.," she said, removing her hand from her wand in her pocket and holding it out for him to shake. He took her hand, remembering not to crush it and shook hands as Clark Kent usually did, moderately firmly, but not challengingly to those alpha-male types who made shaking hands a grip strength competition.

 

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Scamander?" he asked, keeping his super hearing open for threats and scanning the area quickly with his telescopic vision. He saw the muscles around her eyes tighten and watched the tilt of her head. It was obvious to him that she could see what he was doing, and he suspected that her glasses were more than they seemed, as magic usually was.

 

She turned her face back to his, pulled her glasses down so he could see her eyes for the first time. They shone silvery pale and made him think of the moon, which made him think of her name again.

 

"It's about your glasses, Mr. Kent, and the way you're using them to hide who you really are." She pushed her glasses back up, hiding her eyes and intentions again. "Don't worry, I'm not here to expose you, I just really need to talk to you about what you're doing to the world with your glasses. I know they're more than ordinary spectacles."

 

He took off his glasses and looked at her frankly. For the first time, she felt the sense of power radiating from him; sunlight and a presence of something more than just human. She couldn't know that he was sensing the same thing from her; reflected sunlight from the moon and power more than a normal human.

 

"All right, Mrs. Scamander, do you have time now?" She obviously knew who he was, and there was no point playing dumb. He slid his glasses back onto his face and became just ordinary Clark Kent again.

 

"Yes, please, the sooner the better."

 

Before she could react, he'd pulled his into one of his arms and they disappeared in a blur of speed. She had just enough time to register his other hand holding onto his hat as they ran or flew (she never really knew which) to just outside a generic apartment door. He put her down and unlocked the door as she straightened her wind-blown hair with a brush she seemingly conjured from nowhere.

 

When they had entered the apartment and she had a quick look at the Spartan surroundings, she asked, "Why wasn't I burned from air friction?"

 

"I seem to have a protective layer or something that keeps things or people I'm carrying from being burnt or frozen, as long as they're not too big. Flash tried to explain it to me once, but it was too technical for me."

 

She nodded, accepting the vague answer.

 

"You obviously know my secret, Mrs. Scamander, and I know you're a witch; why don't you tell me what you want?" He sat down on a sofa and she sat next to him. She took off her strange glasses and put them on the arm of sofa.

 

"It's your spectacles. They're emitting an energy or some kind of magical emanation that is spreading into the magical world and causing Wrackspurts to manifest."

 

"What's a Wrackspurt?" He interrupted.

 

Luna shifted on the couch and looked around the apartment as she answered. Clark got the impression that she wasn't missing much and he was glad he'd brought her to a Justice League safe-house rather than his personal apartment.

 

"A Wrackspurt is creature that's invisible to the human eye, both Muggle and Wizard. It flies into a person's ears and makes their thoughts go fuzzy." She turned her eyes back to him. "They start first by making you unfocused, then you become vague and apathetic, and if the infection continues long enough, they can cause permanent damage, similar to the Muggle affliction Alzheimer's disease."

 

Clark removed his glasses and Luna felt his overwhelming presence again. "And you believe that my glasses are manifesting Wrackspurts?" He didn't sound doubting, and Luna was pleased that he hadn't dismissed her out of hand, as she didn't want to tussle with him.

 

"I can show you, if you don't mind?" She took his glasses and put them on, and handed him her Spectrespecs from the arm of the couch. He hesitated before putting them on. She could see from the way he crinkled his eyes that he'd been inspecting them in some way, possibly some sort of microscopic vision.

 

Clark looked at her through the spectacles. He could see small wriggling creatures emerging from the corner of his glasses where the temple met the front side of the frame at the hinge. One of them flew off and tried to enter Luna's ears, but disappeared in a puff of magical energy. Another flew at him and he reflexively blasted at it with his heat vision. It also disappeared in puff of magical energy. A few seconds later, another creature emerged and was again destroyed when it tried to enter Luna's ear.

 

He took off the Spectrespecs and handed them back to Luna. She took off his glasses and sat them on the couch.

 

"You obviously saw them, then?" She asked curiously.

 

"I saw something," he replied, "but I'm not sure what they were."

 

"Did your heat vision destroy it?" She asked. "I'm not sure how it would interact with such a magical creature."

 

He nodded. "It disappeared when the ray struck it, and it looked just like the one that tried to enter your ear and was destroyed. Do you have some sort of talisman for protection?"

 

She shook her head. "My father invented a Wrackspurt siphon to remove them from an infected brain, and I reverse magicked it to create an anti-Wrackspurt charm that destroys them when they try to enter an ear. I've taught this to my friends back home, but the Ministry doesn't believe me that they're real and they think the Spectrespecs are just a toy that is showing ambient magical energy."

 

"Do you mind if I get someone to have them take a look at this?" He asked, pointing at the Spectrespecs.

 

"They'll need to understand magic and perhaps how your glasses work. Are they alien technology?"

 

He nodded. "Wait here. There's food and drinks in the fridge. Take what you want. I'll be back soon. If I'm not back in half an hour, use this to contact Batman and let him know." He handed her a black plastic fob, like a key ring with a yellow button with a black bat on it. "Push the button and you can talk to him, but only use it if I'm not back, okay?"

 

She took the item, looked it over carefully and nodded. He walked to the door, closed it behind him and she heard a distant whoosh. She wandered around the apartment, opened the fridge, took out a soda and drank from it, made a face at its sweetness and poured most of it down the sink. She poked at the television until she found the power button and watched a telenovela. She didn't understand the language (but she knew it was Spanish), but she could tell that Rosela was no good for Hernando anyway.

 

Clark returned in twenty-seven minutes with a tall, dark-haired woman, probably ten years older than Luna. Luna recognized her as Zatanna, even though she was dressed in a sleek black pantsuit rather than her stage outfit. She stood and held out her hand.

 

"Pleased to meet you, Zatanna, I'm Luna Scamander." She was about to say more when Zatanna spoke.

 

"I know who you are, I recognized you from your photo in Rolf Scamander's book. It's great how you and he are taking up his grandfather's work again." She had a soft, but impossible to ignore voice that radiated power. "My copy of Fantastic Beasts is just about worn out and I'm going to pick up the next edition when you and Rolf are done editing it."

 

Luna smiled. "Thank you, but I'm not the Luna Scamander from this reality. I'm from an alternate Earth and I came here by way of L-space. I am glad that the me here is doing the same thing, though."

 

Zatanna nodded, while Clark looked confused.

 

"I know about alternate Earths, but what is L-Space?" he asked.

 

"It's a method of traveling between dimensions by use of the space-time warping abilities of libraries, especially magical ones. Only a skilled Librarian can navigate it safely," Zatanna answered. She pointed at the Spectrespecs.

 

"Those are obviously the glasses that Superman was talking about," Zatanna said, automatically using ‘Superman' rather than his secret identity's name.

 

"Yes, those are my Spectrespecs," Luna said. "You can see the Wrackspurts with them."

 

"May I?" Zatanna asked, indicating the Spectrespecs.

 

Luna nodded and Zatanna picked them up. She held them quietly for a moment with her eyes closed. Then she reached into a pocket and pulled out a hat and wand that obviously could never have fit in it. She retrieved a monocle from it, which she put over one eye. She touched the wand to the Spectrespecs at various points on the frames while muttering incantations. Luna recognized only one of them, and wondered idly if Hermione would have known more.

 

Clark moved to an armchair and sat down, staying silent while Zatanna did her thing. Luna also kept quiet, so she didn't disturb Zatanna's concentration. She recognized that at least two of the incantations were backwards words and sat puzzling them out in her head.

 

Zatanna put down the Spectrespecs and held out her hand for Clark's glasses. He gave them to her and he and Luna both watched as Zatanna repeated most of the same spells on them. Zatanna picked the Spectrespecs back up and put them on, then took them off and put on Clark's glasses. She took off Clark's glasses and gave them back. He put them on and Zatanna watched him intently. After a moment, she slashed her wand through the air.

 

"Okay, Superman, take them off. I've seen enough." Zatanna sighed, squinted, and rubbed her eyes.

 

"All right, here's what I know for sure." She pointed at Clark's glasses. "Your glasses obviously use some sort of Kryptonian technology intended to obfuscate who you are to people observing you, yes?"

 

Clark nodded.

 

"And they work, even through media, like a photograph or television?" She asked.

 

He nodded again.

 

Zatanna turned to Luna. "Your spectacles detect magical creatures that enter into human brains and make their thoughts go fuzzy, yes?"

 

"They're called Wrackspurts and my Spectrespecs detect them; that's correct," Luna said.

 

Zatanna smiled at the words ‘Wrackspurts' and ‘Spectrespecs.' "Good proper names for them."

 

She tapped her wand on her hat and pursed her lips. "Here's what I think is going on, but it's really just speculation for now. Clark, I think the alien technology in your glasses is interacting with the magical nature of the Earth and ripping a hole into dimensions that we don't want opened. These creatures that Mrs. Scamander calls Wrackspurts ("That's their name," Luna talked over her) are coming through these small holes and looking for hosts to live in and feed off."

 

She started pacing. "Normally, an extra-dimensional creature coming through would just die immediately, and the fact that these things can live here, and live off humans, makes me think that they've had contact with humans before. This makes them dangerous, as any extra-dimensional thing that can do that could also herald an invasion."

 

"An invasion of Wrackspurts would be a nuisance, but if there's anything worse where they come from, then we need to stop them." Luna's quiet voice cut through. "Mr. Kent, I believe that you started wearing these glasses in the late thirties or early forties, around Kansas or Nebraska?"

 

"I did, but how did you know?"

 

Luna pulled a map out of her pocket, unfolded it and waved her wand at it. A holographic map of the United States appeared above it. "This is my hypothesis for a time-lapse of the Wrackspurt infestation covering the world, I based it on the stupidity of the government at the time." She waved her wand again and a dark spot appeared in Kansas. The legend next to it read 1939. The year legend began to tick up, and the dark spot spread across the Midwest, mostly staying circular, but definitely showing an ovoid tendency toward the East Coast and West Coast, with only small arms extending to Canada and Mexico. By the fifties, the stain was more spread out, with a much darker color showing a higher concentration in Washington D.C.

 

Luna poked her wand at D.C. "I postulate that an especially large concentration of Wrackspurts in Washington D.C. contributed to both the length and intensity of the Cold War."

 

She waved her wand again and the map changed to Europe and Asia. "This is what I hypothesize the spread in Europe and Asia was, based on when media coverage of Superman became more common via television and photographs. People would see you, in person, a photo or television, think to themselves, ‘hmm, he looks like familiar,' and they would look you up. Then the Wrackspurts would affect them. It's only accelerated more lately with the ability to look up images on your internet."

 

Stains of red began to spread, starting in the late thirties in major population centers. Berlin, London, and Moscow showed the highest concentrations, but every major city began to show red. Clark noticed the deeper reds around the government centers.

 

"Can you run it forward to today?" He asked.

 

She nodded and twisted her wand. Zatanna looked on approvingly. The legend ran up to the present day and Clark whistled, while Zatanna looked on concerned. Almost every population center in the United States was stained deep crimson and the rest of North America was stained at least slightly pink. The map of Europe and Asia was only slightly better.

 

"Good news is my research says they don't breed, and they don't seem to be able to live long without a host; no longer than thirty minutes," Luna said.

 

"So, even if we can stop this..." he hesitated.

 

"Invasion," Luna said at the same time Zatanna said, "incursion."

 

"...invasion," Clark continued, "then we still have to deal with the Wrackspurts that are already here?"

 

"With the help of my friend Hermione..."

 

"The Minister of Magic is your friend?" Zatanna asked, surprised.

 

"Yes, in my world we fought Voldemort together." Zatanna looked impressed. Lord Voldemort had only been a minor nuisance here, as John Constantine had discovered his Horcruxes and destroyed them one by one with the help of Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger.

 

"She helped me, even though she doesn't really believe in them; she also thinks the Spectrespecs just show ambient magical energy. With Hermione's help, we made a charm that can be shown on media in quick flashes or embedded in photographs that strengthen a person's mind; a kind of a bane for their Wrackspurts."

 

"Like subliminal advertising," Clark said.

 

"That's what Hermione said, too." She looked curiously at both of them. "Does it actually work on Muggles?"

 

"No," Clark said.

 

"Sometimes," Zatanna said, "especially on mentally susceptible individuals and usually only if done by someone who has undiscovered latent magical abilities."

 

Luna reached into her pocket and pulled out a transparent overlay that was shaped like the insignia on his uniform. If he hadn't seen Zatanna's hat before, he would have wondered just how much could fit in her pocket. "This is a version of a charm that I made with Hermione that you can put on your uniform over your house of El insignia, and it will act as a bane to the Wrackspurts in people that see your image. Try to be photographed and on television more will help."

 

"I can do that," Clark said. "I can definitely have a higher profile for a bit."

 

Clark sighed, straightened, and held his glasses out. "So, to be clear, I should stop wearing these, then we use Luna's charm on my uniform to rid the world of the current infestation."

 

"Yes, and I've already thought of how you can still protect your identity." Luna dug around in her pack and pulled out a pair of glasses that looked identical to Clark's. "These have the charm built in, so they'll still hide your identity, and the confusing effects are short-lived and not dangerous. They don't work through media, though, so avoid being photographed as Clark Kent."

 

Luna pulled a scroll out of her pocket and handed it to Zatanna. "I'm pleased you're here, as I assume you're able to do this." She unrolled the scroll and Zatanna read through it.

 

When she'd finished, she asked, "May I keep this?"

 

"I have copies," Luna said. "You understand how it works?"

 

Zatanna nodded. "It's brilliant." She looked at Luna shrewdly. "I take it from the way the charm's hidden that you don't have MACUSA approval?"

 

Luna sighed. "I tried to show them, but they laughed it off when they thought I wasn't in hearing range. They talked to each other about how I was a nutjob and should be put under surveillance as a danger to the country, even with a recommendation from Hermione and Harry Potter." She grinned. "I gave their Aurors the slip; I was trained by Harry Potter himself as a teen, and they weren't."

 

"I'm going to stop wearing my old glasses immediately, but I'm not going to go forward with this until I've had a couple of other people look at these," he held up his new Luna-made glasses. "Is that okay?"

 

"It's been about seventy years, so I doubt a few days will make a difference," Luna said.

 

"If this is all above-board, I'll contact you when we're ready to proceed." Clark stood and held out his hand. Luna took it and shook it, then did the same with Zatanna.

 

"Raven, you think?" Zatanna asked Clark.

 

He nodded. "I think she'd be the best to ask about extra-dimensional invaders."

 

"Can I Disapparate from here?" Luna asked.

 

Zatanna shook her head. "I've warded all the Justice League safe-houses. I can have Clark drop you somewhere or you can Disapparate when you're outside the front door of the building."

 

Luna left, went down the stairs to the front of the building and Disapparated to Virginia, where a strong leyline made it easy to Apparate long distance.

 

Epilogue

 

A few days later, Luna was reading a newspaper in a café in Henrietta when she saw a photograph of Superman, flying off with the Bizarro Superman unconscious under his arm. She surreptitiously pulled out her wand and tapped the photo. Her charm shone at her briefly from Superman's insignia, and she smiled.

 

A shaved-head young man came in and ordered a coffee, and looked at her, but was trying to act like he wasn't looking at her. She smiled at him and waved her wand, leaving a trail of blue vapor behind it. His face hardened, but he came over to her table.

 

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?"

 

"I'm Luna Scamander and you are having problems with your dreams, Mr. Lynch. May I call you Ronan?"

 

 


End file.
